'The Liar': WRT comedy says we all have problems with the truth

Take a close look at your Facebook account. Think about the things you wrote on your match.com profile. Reread your resume. You may have more in common with “The Liar” than you’d like to admit.

Marta Rainer has been pondering liars a lot recently. She’s currently directing the Wellesley Repertory Theatre production of “The Liar” that runs Jan. 11 to Feb. 4 at Wellesley College. She’s discovering that when you contemplate liars, it can take you in many different directions. And sometimes it leads right back to you.

“You see it on social media all the time: We all create highly curated versions of ourselves,” Rainer says with a chuckle. “If it’s not outright lies, then it’s amplified versions of ourselves. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. Why do we do that?”

The act of lying was probably invented about four minutes after humans learned how to speak. The concept clearly intrigued Pierre Corneille, who wrote “The Liar” around 1640. The WRT production features a highly lauded adaptation by playwright David Ives that premiered in 2010.

The comedy tells the story of the charming Dorante, who arrives in Paris with little more than a knack for telling "alternate facts." He soon connects with the manservant Cliton – a man who’s devoted to the truth – and then sets his sights on the fair Clarice. The humor comes from the unapologetic way Dorante delivers his fake news.

“Dorante is wicked but delightful,” says Rainer, who just moved from Brooklyn to Wellesley. “I don’t know if we root for him, but we’re fascinated by him. We want to see how much trouble he gets in, and if he can find a way out.”

If you direct “The Liar,” it helps to play amateur psychologist. What’s Dorante’s motivation for lying?

“He believes that by crafting these lies, he’ll find his way into the society of Paris,” says Rainer. “We wanted to explore why he is doing this. What’s the benefit of this tactic? And how is everyone else complicit in letting this happen?”

What kind of answers are they discovering?

“Dorante’s motivations seem to be more about love, and power, and position,” says Rainer. “Money doesn’t seem to be a big motivating factor. He’s lying to create a better version of himself.”

Hmm. A guy who lies to puff himself up, as well as to achieve power and social position. Sound familiar?

The 1640s play is as relevant as yesterday’s headlines. Even as Rainer and her cast were rehearsing the show, The New York Times published a graph that charted Donald Trump’s lies. After just 10 months in office, he was up to 103.

Rainer never directly cites Trump as an inspiration for staging “The Liar.” Instead, she talks about her students’ response to the play when she taught it in a class at Wellesley.

“The students really connected with it,” says Rainer. “They thought it was hilarious, and so do I.”

Even if she doesn’t want to draw a straight line to Trump, she understands why others will.

“There have been plays this past year that have been directly critical of our president, and they have sparked important conversations,” she says. “But I feel like, by not overtly commenting, we open the space for further discussions.”

Rainer is happier to let you make the connections.

“I have a high opinion of our audiences,” she says, describing the WRT patrons who are primarily from the MetroWest area. “They are discerning folks who can draw their own conclusions. We’re hoping they’ll laugh during the play and then think later.”

She says the theater is planning talk-back sessions that will allow the audience and creative team to discuss the play immediately after performances.

“I’m really interested to see where those discussions go,” she says.

Rainer is probably right to let any political message speak for itself. After all, even playwright Ives was subtle in drawing comparisons between Dorante and any current politicians. But it was clearly on his mind. Near the end of the play, Dorante contemplates…

Perhaps I’ll go onstage and be an actor.

Maybe Corneille will write me up a play.

Or maybe, with my gifts and disposition,

I’ll emigrate and be a politician.

The play is written in rhyming couplets, and that’s another reason Rainer chose to stage it. She thinks it’s a terrific challenge for her actors, and part of the goal of the Wellesley Repertory Theatre is to help Wellesley students transition from academic theater to the professional world. “The Liar” provides them with an opportunity to build their skills.

“We like to pick plays that will challenge the actors,” says Rainer. “This style of comedy is something the company hasn’t done. It’s written in rhymed couplets, so how do you make that language come alive for a contemporary audience?”

Laughter always helps.

“We’ve been having a wonderful time finding the humor in rehearsals, and I’m always asking how we can make it even sillier,” says Rainer. “There is this conventional belief that comedy is easier than drama, but we’re finding out that’s not necessarily the case.”

Laughter: Maybe it’s just the right medicine for this bitter winter and the wake of a somber 2017.

“We’re all fatigued,” says Rainer. “I think we need to bring some lightness into the new year.”

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